Geo-location may include an identification of a geographical location of an object, such as a radar device, a mobile device, or an Internet-connected computer, associated with a user. Many web services and applications may require that a user's geo-location be captured and analyzed. For example, if a user is utilizing an application on a mobile device to obtain directions to a particular location, the application may require the geo-location of the mobile device in order to provide accurate directions. As more and more users utilize mobile devices (e.g., smart phones), geo-location has become a more important factor in identifying such users. For example, identifying a user's geo-location has become a factor used to authenticate a user and prevent potential fraud.
Geo-location may be defined as a pair of real numbers (e.g., x, y) that may be interpreted as latitude (x) and longitude (y). Thus, a number pair (x,y) may represent a unique point on the surface of the Earth. If measured in degrees, the latitude (x) may range from negative ninety degrees (−90°) to ninety degrees (90°), and the longitude (y) may range from negative one-hundred and eighty degrees (−180°) to one-hundred and eighty degrees (180°).
Currently, multiple techniques may be used to obtain a user's current location, such as for example, looking up an Internet protocol (IP) address of a computing device, obtaining global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of a mobile device, performing cell tower triangulation of a mobile device, etc. At a given point in time, such techniques may provide a user's geo-location, but may also introduce errors into the user's geo-location. For example, assume that (x0,y0) are the exact location coordinates of a user at a particular time (t), but that the techniques provide (x,y) as the location coordinates of the user. Further, assume that the exact location coordinates (x0,y0) do not match the location coordinates (x,y). In such an example, an error (or an inaccuracy) may be defined as a distance between the exact location coordinates (x0,y0) and the location coordinates (x,y). Furthermore, different techniques introduce different errors into the user's geo-location. For example, GPS coordinates of a mobile device may be accurate within 9.144 meters, and cell tower triangulation of a mobile device may be accurate within 0.804 kilometers. Geo-location errors may also be introduced by a user's location, meteorological conditions, devices utilized by the user, etc.